 - Follow law on prayer_files/heraldonlinelogo.gif)
(Published July 29‚ 2004)
The Great Falls Town Council fought to have the right to utter Christian prayers during meetings, but now that the fight has been lost, it's time for city leaders to give up this quixotic battle.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week rejected the town's appeal of an earlier ruling in which another federal judge stopped the council from reciting Christian prayers during meetings. At the time, the judge said that the U.S. Su-preme Court had made it clear in a 1983 ruling that while it's acceptable for a public body to pray, it's unconstitutional to recite prayers that mentioned a specific deity. For example, a city council could pray to God but not to Jesus Christ because Jews and practitioners of other faiths do not recognize Christ as divine.
To their credit, Great Falls Town Council members have followed that ruling since last year, although they earlier refused to abide by a local judge's decision that reached the same conclusion. In its appeal of the 2003 federal court ruling, Great Falls was supported by S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster as well as by ministers of several local churches. It should be stated, also, that Great Falls is not alone in routinely reciting prayers that would run afoul of the law were anyone to make an issue of the practice.
The rub in the southeastern Chester County town, of course, is that the someone who made an issue of prayers is a citizen who practices a pagan religion. The Wiccan priestess who successfully sued the town says she is fine with prayers that mention God or even "heavenly Father" but that references to Jesus Christ offend her beliefs.
Town officials have indicated they may want to ask for a hearing before the full court of appeals, but they likely would only be prolonging the inevitable and wasting tax dollars in the process.
Meanwhile, other elected bodies that are flaunting the law on matters of prayer may want to examine the example they are setting for citizens by knowingly breaking the law themselves.
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Great Falls Town Council members may not authorize prayers that mention a specific deity. |
| Copyright © 2004 The Herald, South Carolina |